The Canadian Sropp a^d Naturalist. 



No. I. 



MONTREAL, JANUARY, 1882. 





WILLIAM COUPER, Editor. 



OUR NEW TITLE-PAGE. 



Our readers will, no doubt, be pleased with 

 the improvement which we have made in our 

 Title-page. The design is by Mr. A. F. Dunlop, 



Architect, and the engraving by Mr. J. L. 

 Wiseman, both of this city. The work reflects 

 credit on the skill of the artists. 



KILLING FISH BY DYNAMITE. 

 The residents of Indiana have been making 

 use nt the above explosive to kill fish. Tin' shock 

 destroys hundreds of marketable fishes, but at 

 the same time there are thousands of young 

 fish killed and allowed to decay in the water. 

 The destructiveness of this method is so great 

 that popular indignation should arise against 

 it. We have been informed that ' the un- 

 marketable fishes thus destroyed by dynamite 

 in the White-water River, 111., were seen float- 

 ing in the river and its tributaries fully forty 

 miles from the scene of the explosion. We 

 have seme knowledge of a similar experiment 

 to kill fish in Canadian waters. The party 

 who tried it, made the first attempt at Quebec. 

 Americans to-day would call such a man 

 " crank," and although we have frequently re- 

 marked "daft" moments in his dealings, he was 

 determined and had energy as a fishmonger. 

 The material had to be obtained to supply his 

 customers, and as he could not procure 

 sufficient by net process he thought of trying 

 the dynamite one. On a beautiful summer's 

 morning, he arose from his bed in Blanchard's 

 Hotel, and taking a handsome trout rod in 

 hand, proceeded to the Custom-house wharf, 

 alongside of which lay a small trading- 

 schooner. The dynamite fish-killer tripped 

 lightly on board the vessel, and having quietly 

 adjusted the explosive to a line attached to the 

 fishing rod, the experiment began ; but the 

 Skipper, who was in his berth, — hearing light 



footsteps on board hiscrafl came lortli I 



his cabin jus! af the instant of tl 



find the schooner ami bimsell thrown partially 



on the wharf. Of coarse the Skip] 



him " what you do there," Ion he coolly 



answered thai w ' he was fishing," thai a large 



fish took hold otitis bait, ami the line and a 

 great portion of his twelve dollar rod wen- 

 gone. The turmoil being over and thi 

 perimenter having quickly disappeared from 



the scene, the matter ended, hut it inu-i be 

 remembered that he had an object in view and 

 that was to discover if he. could procure fish 

 in large quantities by a cheap and easy pro- 

 cess. This was his first trial with the dan- 

 gerous article, and we cannot say that be tried 

 dynamite again, but the intentions of this tl<h- 

 monger were to dynamite the Trout Lake- ,,t 

 our Laurentide mountains, in order to procure 

 large quantities of fish to supply the demand 

 of the American market. He failed, how- 

 ever, as every man will, who usee unnatural 

 or unlawful modes to catch his game. We 

 have had accounts of large quantities ot small 

 fishes belonging to several species having been 

 seen dead on the waters of Lake Ontario, and 

 even in the Lower St. Lawrence, but no one 

 has given a proper cause for the mortality. 

 We are told that some years ago, the Norway 

 Haddock (Sebastcs Norvegicus) appeared in 

 thousands opposite Metis, but they were all 

 dead. Millions of Sticklebacks have been 

 seen on the surface of the salt water in the 

 Lower St. Lawrence, but what killed them is 

 a mystery. Some attribute it to aqueous 

 earthquakes producing sulphureous gases. 

 Water may be poisoned in many ways ; we 

 know that lime when cast into the upper por- 

 tion or source of a trout stream, will, in a short 

 time, kill every fish in it. Fresh cut pine saw- 

 dust when thrown into a river, becomes dis- 

 agreeable to fish, but this dust produces 

 greater harm alter it accumulates, tor saw- 



